Faculty Syllabus

A student’s grade for the class will be determined by their score out of a possible hundred points. Each assignment in the class will be worth a certain number of points which will total to one hundred.

If a student misses more than six days of class after the first day, they will lose three points from their total for each additional missed day. The first six absences are automatically “excused”; no need for discussion. Additional absences will not be excused.

Ten proposal assignments will be worth two points each. In a proposal, a student will propose a question or topic that could be assigned for one of the paper topics. Students will have twelve opportunities to submit proposals.

Ten preparatory assignments will be worth two points each. In a preparation, a student will outline an answer to an assigned question or topic. Students will have twelve opportunities to submit proposals.

Three short papers are worth ten points each. These will be papers about three pages in length answering your choice from several questions that I offer you; students’ proposals, possibly modified, are liable to be many of the available questions. Your short papers are intended to fill in the outlines for three of your preparations, though it’s not mandatory that they do so.

Plato: The Republic

Aristotle: The Politics

Cicero: The Republic, The Laws

Aquinas: On Law, Morality, and Politics (Hackett)

Hobbes: Leviathan

Locke: Second Treatise of Government

Rousseau: Basic Political Writing (Hackett)

Herder: Another Philosophy of History and Selected Political Writings (Hackett)

Burke: Reflections on the Revolution in France

Proudhon: What is Property?

Marx: Writings of the Young Marx… (Hackett)

Schmitt: The Concept of the Political

Supplementary documents made available via Blackboard

Departmental objectives

• Identity and describe various major figures, divisions, theories, and concepts in social and political philosophy
• Analyze written texts from social and philosophy
• Apply concepts from philosophy to social and political problems and contemporary issues of both individual and universal significance 
• Develop and defend a philosophical argument in a written essay

General education competencies

Communication Skills: Develop, interpret, and express ideas and information through written, oral and visual communication that is adapted to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.

Critical Thinking Skills: Gather, analyze, synthesize, evaluate and apply information for the purposes of innovation, inquiry, and creative thinking.

Personal Responsibility: Identify and apply ethical principles and practices to decision-making by connecting choices, actions and consequences

Social Responsibility (Civic and Cultural Awareness): Analyze differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.